EVent Shadows of Ghosts
by Dunne
Summary: No one would have believed in the last 250 years reaching up to the early years of the 24th Centruy, that mankind was bieng watched keenly, and closely, by intelligences greater than Man's own.
1. Prolouge and Preface

E.Vent.

Shadows of Ghosts

**Preface and some Thoughts**

Space is something we tend to ignore because we assume that we are satisfied with what we know about it. Well, if we are in the time when we have mapped out our entire planet, decided to finally conserve and clean it, mapped out our gene code and quit with our squabbles of cultural differences and religion, then wouldn't we be looking up at the heavens and decide to expand ourselves over it and explore it further than our telescopes and unmanned probes have ever reached? If we hade what we needed, couldn't we, wouldn't we, go out there and try to see what else lies beyond Pluto and beyond, wear Pioneer 10 has actually touched the stars and further? Damn well we would! Of course one thing for sure we need to solve our overpopulation problems first so then we should colonize then we should worry about all that exploring. But of course we always send the machine first then the animal then the man. So far robots have developed farther than Deep Blue, Cray, Sanio, Aibo and such simple man helpers and of course farther than the first legendary G5's break thru in fiber optic communication and circuitry which we have applied here in our present time thru out all communication and technologies.

With robots running tasks like accounting and basic maintenance and manufacturing and food processing, leaps in technology have been achieved: Communication has fast forward beyond county wide communication of cellular units to real time communication between the stars, the elusive theoretical hyper drive is created called, the Hyper Warp Fold Drive, lasers are used as weapons and still are applied in research, and the all sought for shield generator is made and the first sentient computer is created. Space flight is as common day as a plane ride and there are personal flying vehicles like cars for the general populace.

Health has increased and the cancer gene has been found and been destroyed. The common cold's code is broken and prescription medication is made for every ailment. Even birth control is available and affordable for both sexes and can be used on and off on will by medium of a simple vaporization injection and some simple mind control. Breeding for jobs is done with injections too, and geniuses are more frequent and range from every class. Nanotechnology is a new advantages business and industry producing billions of new products every year for the consumer and megacorp industrial and military sectors.

Since the beginning of when the countries of Earth formed The United Earth Alliance or The U.E.A., had the race to live in space began. Two major leaders in space exploration, America and Russia, formed a new agency, International Space Aeronautics Services or ISAS, to provide for the people stacking their claim space. Once the cultural and language iron curtain had lifted, the world's populace began mixing and a new race of people came forth, in fact Earth's true human race, the human of no absolute back ground, came forth to colonize and explore space as a true representative of Earth for the cosmos. But even though people are free to do more there are still problems in the universe, controversy on how to preserve a new planets native inhabitants has arisen and the idea cessation in the colonial planets of the whole of the Colonial U.E.A.

The true human race began to come out the original names of races where now part of history book statistics. People had all kind of blood in them and Basic English became the standard language of all. Every other language was studied at choice resulting with in the general populace would usually have up to five different languages under their own tongue.

All of this cultural advancement allowed The U.E.A. to colonize Antarctica. All of this is quite wonderful to the people of Earth and the people that settle in to the true "New Worlds" are even happier because man now knows that he can conquer any weather obstacle with just a little modification and adaptation of the gene and the mind's will.

Though this a rosy picture of what I believe things to come will be, the setting in this book is what would be considering a rising shadow from an old ghost, one that mankind has always cast upon itself but now falls under, namely, the many shadows of the ghost of war.

**Prologue**

2315, May 7. U.E.A.

Space Sector Alpha, Planet Rallodawn

Continent Rence, Province Percival

Sphere of Influence: U.E.A. Enforcers, U.E.A Military Owned Planet

Subdivisions; UEA Enforcers training facilities

Local early Morning

** "Red five**, join up with the group, your straying too far off of formation" The flight squad officer said his voice laconic in any sort of feeling, an instilled habit drilled in to pilots since the emergence of the first flight school. The XJP-53 "Drooper" fighter know as "RED 5" was not joining up with the rest of formation, in fact, it began to peel off in a near tangent direction away from the heading of the main fighter formation group. The whole wing squad was cruising low over the mountains on approach to the target. In truth they where in training, and though training was done on simulators, today was simulated fire. The fighter streaked off, its powerful twin turbine frictionless counter rotating engines pouring on more power than the air show relic of an F-22 Raptor on its afterburners full bore.

"Damn kid, goanna have to chasse him again. Lieutenant Shall, you have lead, proceed to planned target area and take out designated targets in range, then take group back to base as to plan."

"Yes, sir. Red wing squad, on my lead, reform to formation change and lock me in as leader." The original wing leader peeled off in his own command ship sweeping back the wings of the aerospace craft he piloted, the same as RED 5s and the rest of Red wing squad.

_ I just hate it when he takes _"targets of opportunity" _to heart, damit!_

_ PHWAAAAAAAAM! PHWAAAAAAAAM! PHERRRBREEEEIIIIIOOOOUUUUUMM! PHERRRBREEEEIIIIIOOOOUUUUUMM! ERRRRRNN! ERRRRRNN! BUWAAAAAAAAM! BUWAAAAAAAAM! _It seemed the more alarms you used in the situation to get people awaked the more response and reaction you would get. In this case it was somewhat organized chaos. It will always seem like so much noise to the untrained air, especially the pencil pushing inspectors that came to visit once in a while, but each alarm had their own specific purpose; air attack, bring defenses online, all personnel to stations, code level red battle stations. It was a hot scramble in effect, though this scramble was not for air support, it was for the Mobile Weapon Unit or MWU in formal military specs, MU for slang and pilot communications. A team of five MUs began to suit up, each unit having its own pilot, the MU tuned to it's pilot's specific brain wavelength pattern for interface between the machine and the pilot. The MU was a somewhat beastly machine, but its internal systems where encased in a shell, very little of its internal components exposed. Bipedal and humanoid, it had the grace of a dancer and the dominating presence of a giant with contained power, raw, but tapped at the beck and call of the pilot's request. It was nuclear powered, fusion powered to be exact, powered by a Mini Macro Fusion Reactor or an MMFR. The MU's main components were interchangeable and every one of them was alike, which enabled the best in maintenance on the field. It stood at the most 18 meters tall, weighing in at around 50 metric tons in its basic configuration with no added weapons. All of the MUs present on the staging area where brought online and performed a quick tai-chi routine, easing out the musculature, servos and joints out of locked positions and back in to fluidity. One in particular was going thru the motions with more out of a session than a routine. It was considered better for every pilot to make their own routine up to make sure they get every joint that moves to bend or turn at least once in each direction.

All MU pilots wore two things: an Interface System Suit, and a Neural Command Helmet, both essential in reading the pilots body movements as the MU relied on the pilot's moments to function and for balance and target assist, respectively. The particular MU that was going thru a session of tai-chi, different and more thorough, was female. A female pilot in anything was common, but in the most sense it was male pilots that worked in MUs, mostly for the needed strength and endurance, but it was for this particular female that broke the mold in more ways than one. A product of Project Eughence, Project E in codename; She was a Eughent. The only thing that would immediately set her different from other humans, those that knew what she was and those that did not, was her hair. Hair style her own, the color, not. A dark rich forest green was the color of her hair along with a fading grey towards the back of her neck to white and ending in translucent tips, short cut with lengths of bangs coming down the sides of her head, following the same pattern schemes as they went. It was genetic thing, as she cut her hair the tips would change color and start the pattern over again, giving her a sort of disheveled style to her look, something she appreciated, since her natural hair color, actually translucent, was modified by the Project E staff, whom seemed to only do that with special cases, as she had a rare problem with an ancestral Antarctic gene. Her natural hair color was translucent, but it would end up that she would get sun burnt if she was not given a pigment. The staff was nice enough to give her a mix fading effect, explaining to her the special feature it had when ever she cut it. She shuffled her hair around, it falling right back in to place as she slipped her NC Helmet on; she was skilled enough to pilot using feed back motion but still gave the machine the luxury of following her balance.

"Hal," she prompted her onboard A.I. an advanced line GPH HAL AI System, capable of not needing vocal prompts, just eye and NC Helmet as well as IS Suit interface

"Run Modes 2 and 3" her voice was young but with authority and strength behind it, like a calculating Cheetah, but more with like a dralling aerospace traffic controller, cool, calm, collected, and never showing emotion. She walked the MU over to the assembly dock, ready to configure it for the moment, then calling back to the rest of assembling MU's.

"The rest of you pick up standard anti aerospace packs; I am going out for the main leader on this one"

"Yes commander."

"Whatever you say chief"

"Sure boss"

"Right-o, drop back and take Aerospace defensive positions" they chimed, walking over to the enclosing assembly area. She walked to her own and began scrolling thru the equipment combinations that where listed.

"Hal, custom pack today: Double rotaries, hyperdensity type, Hell dart hacker pack, long bow EMP and one XM-109 MWU Sniper cannon. Arrangement of packs, long bow on left, hell dart on right and both rotaries standard configuration and sniper cannon for right handed use. Include one aerospace HiMAS pack" The HiMAS pack stood for Hi Mobility Aeronautics Space, it was a backpack that had two main thrusters on a backpack like location on the back part on the MU, plus two outrigger thrusters left and right of the two main thrusters for greater turning and speed. The basic thruster packs in an MU had a set of jump jets one above the other in the small of the back, one on each of the calves along with one on each thigh and two in each foot.

"Yes commander, setting configuration for custom air defense." The enclosed assembly area began to hum loudly. Locker like slide panels from above opened up and lowered hell dart and long bow packs in to their respective places and a longer arm lowering and latching in to place the sniper cannon to the right shoulder blade hard point. Two assembly panels to the left and right of the arms of the MU began to unfold and reveal two double rotaries with extra ammunition canisters, each of them being placed on hard points in to place respectively by smaller sets of arms. A larger assembly panel slid open, bringing an over head crane to place the HiMAS pack on the two appropriate hard points on the back of the MU, locking it in to place. Internal gyros began to calculate and hum, adjusting to the appropriate weight shifting of the weapons and equipment added to the frame of the MU. The locker like assembly doors slid closed and silenced.

"Release assembly locks and run Mode 4" The AI responded to her verbal command quickly, as the sounds of heavy metal clanked and reseeded from the assembly cage dock and closed all doors and cages. She moved her MU forward; heavy and slightly clumsy steps rocked out, but then straightened and smoothed out to a more casual gait on the third and fourth steps. Walking the MU outside of the hanger, she brought up her OHUD and began to asses all around her. She keyed the Aerospace Con. Tower, closing her eyes and going in to a trance like state, then opening them, and started to begin to resume her normal actions. Her voice opened up in side the tower speakers.

"A. Con. Tower, what is the status on IDless bogies?"

"They have breached the first, second, and third defense lines and are on approach to a route of a Northwest direction, and will be on your four relative. Warning, IDless bogies have simulated ammunition on board and its all live"

"Right Tower, I can get the rest from here" she disconnected from the tower by blinking her eyes for a half a second and went back to work. She glanced the OHUD over and began to set her Double Rotary cannons on her wrists in to firing position. She pointed both her hands up and released the lower locks on the joints of the DRs and then pointed her hands down, the DR barrels pointing down and rotating on their second set of joints. She then pointed forwards with her hands and leveled her hands paralleled to the ground and brought them back in a snapping motion towards herself, locking both DRs in to place with a 'Ker-shak!'

_ Tag and ID search on both bogies Hal_ she though inside of her head, letting the NCH pickup her thoughts on the receptors imbedded in her helmet and the LightWare Chip implanted under her skin behind her right ear. Two distant specks began to appear on the monitor and using the NCH, she had the AI render a 3-D Hologram landscape of the area, giving her a good visual estimate and location of both ships. Both where IDeed and appeared before her with a brief data sliver panel of each pilots information. Bogie 1 was IDeed as "Commander Jackson Gray" and Bogie 2 was simply labeled "RED 5, EVCS engaged." She could of engaged her own detection system but decided not to; her AI processor was more powerful that of most capitol ship sensors. She drew a bead on Bogie 2 and fired at it, the computer already calculating for lead settings and aimed for the rear engine housing. Bogie 2, 'RED 5' dogged, going hypersonic and barrel rolling, while pulling up.

"Damn, guess he knows his basics" she chided herself. She clicked the small lever toggle by her thumb on her joystick assembly built in to her IS Suit and fired the index trigger on her right hand releasing five Hell Dart Hacker missiles. They jumped out with multiple small _fumpoosh!_ noises and left five contrails in a spiral like formation and then proceeded to streak towards the target designated as 'RED 5.' 'RED 5' dropped 2 flares and then masked his engine exhaust by cooling the exhaust with a EVCM feature, leaving white cloud crystal streaks behind the craft. 'RED 5' turned about and she received a warning tone that said she was under target lock.

"Shit!" was all she had time to say. She crossed her arms in a guard position in front of her face then swung them out and to the sides. That motion activated her personal Particle and Ray shield field and a shimmer appeared in a hemisphere around her. Her shields were pelted with slugs and laser fire from 'RED 5's cannons. Depending on the angle of deflection, the slugs bounced to the floor, splattered themselves flat, as well as the laser fire was absorbed and shunted away by the shields or deflected. The pilot pulled off from the strafing pass and let loose a Particle missile as the Drooper pulled upwards. She heard the target lock tone. Her pupils contracted to pinpoints then relaxed to normal, as she called up her Eughent abilities; calling on motor skills and reflexes. She clenched both joysticks on her IS Suit, the metal shod hands doing the same out side. The action blew explosive hard point pins, releasing the DRs on both her wrists and at the same time she pointed her left hand at the incoming missile, releasing two EMP Long Bow missiles. She activated her HiMAS pack, bending her knees and leaping in to the air leaving a heat wave signature and a small charred area of pavement, both HiMAS and integrated systems charging full bore with a humming rumble instead of a rumbling whoosh. She looked down at the scene bellow her and saw the pilot pulling the Drooper up at her. She grimaced at the coming machine, charging her HiMAS in to overdrive and leading ahead of 'RED 5.' She saw that the EMP Long Bows had detonated to disable the missile and have it skid harmlessly on the tarmac. She swung her right arm out, the motion command embedded in the MU system brought out the sniper cannon on an extension arm. She positioned the SC and sighted the scope; she turned about and looked down on the coming fighter. She adjusted for the bullet's trajectory and aimed for the outer casing of the left engine casing, her right hand side. She drew a breath, held it, and slowly pressed the trigger, the metal shod hands moving with the same motions that where depicted by her IS Suit and by her hand. The hammer struck casing and released the powder charge's explosive contents to expand then push out in the only direction it could go, punching the MU scale bullet through the rifling, exiting thru the muzzle and grazing the casing just as she wanted to on the Drooper. The imbalance threw the Dropper for a lateral spin going up. She took advantage of the moment, diving down away from the craft and landing back on the ground one foot at a time. She shrugged her right shoulder blade, explosive hard point pins detonated, dropping the large scale XM-109 Sniper Cannon. The fighter craft above her began to stabilize, though she really did not think it was important, she noticed that it stabilized faster than most other pilots would have it leveled out. She brought her hands up below her shoulder, panels in the arms rotating open and popping out two sticks. She took the sticks and activated them, each one of them releasing a beam of white light. They where energy blades, MU sized katana used for formal battles between MU's in hand to hand combat. She crossed them over each other then pointed them down and out, looking up for the Drooper. She saw three stray missiles from the Drooper streak towards the fuel dump, ammo dump, and the final one –with a graceful smoke trail- landed on the shower rooms.

"You bastard! You know how long I had to wait for the order to come in for my own _personal_ shower station?" She let off the remaining missiles in both her packs toward the now level Drooper and flexed her shoulders, the pins releasing the missile packs off of the hard points. The Drooper began to make another strafing run again, she noticed that the chain guns on the Drooper where rotating but not firing. She did a scan on the system and it said that they where disabled, she knew that the other ship hovering above on hover thrusters was the command ship, capable of controlling ships under its own net. She took advantage of the momentary frustration that the pilot did in futility trying to fire missiles that only dropped and skidded on the tarmac. She gritted her teeth and activated the HiMAS again, leaping up. She was glad she had released all of the missiles; any sort of weapon system aboard the Drooper was disabled, except for the particle and energy shields, she hadn't programmed the Hell Fire hacker missiles for it, but was glad EMP Long Bows always did their job right. At the height of her jump she cut the HiMAS off. She pointed down with the energy blade katanas and let her MU's weight bring her down with the brunt force she would need. She watched as the pilot of the fighter did nothing in dodging or countermeasures.

"Kono yarou!" she yelled. The language classes she taken when she was younger allowed her to cuss profusely when she was mad. She cussed at the pilot in Japanese over an open channel, knowing it would be the last thing he would hear before the blades would strike at the engine thrust vector rings.

The blades slivered the engine thrust vectoring rings cleanly. The Drooper was entirely reliant on hover thrusters for the rest of the way home. She landed on the ground hard, letting the shock be absorbed by the ground and the hover thruster shock absorbers built in to the legs and foot pads of the MU. Her arms where swept back, the energy blade cutting edge pointing down slowly arcing up. She took a deep breath and relaxed herself, her motor and reflexes dropping back to normal levels. She looked up at the command ship, which did a stationary barrel roll; she then heard a private transmission inside her head that was received by her LWC.

"Thanks Jade, the kid always takes the "targets of opportunity" thing a bit too well to heart." Commander Jackson Gray said. She responded verbally on the open channel,

"This is MU Commander Alana, I get you Jack. Hope he pays out his orifice for my new private shower station, including the new ones."

"Common Jade, the least I can do is having him clean his and the rest of the base's barracks and mess duty for at the least a two week period, including anytime he is off, at a stretch."

"Yeah, yeah. But next if I see him, I am not holding back."

"Alana, you know what you are, you can't scare him like that, and I'll loose him faster than I do in briefings"

"You wont, I'll just remind him whose private shower station he cratered in to the ground."

"Well I'll make it easier for you; he is in the upcoming air show, just let the Kid fixer have him first, he is the one that has to deal with him when he gets back. You should have enough clearance to get his ID and holopic."

"So-ka?" she said with a slight sneer,

"Reviewing for something?"

"No. Actually I am just pissed, I find Japanese more expressive than Spanish or French, but Cantonese works just as well, Mandarin just is not really that harsh though, more for sophisticated cussing though."

"Right, just don't play twenty questions with your own mechanics and techs OK?"

"Un"

"Right, Gray out" and with that he pushed the throttle home, letting his own NVC helmet guide his command Drooper home. She let the MU stand up,

"Hal, cancel modes 1, 2, 3, and 4, store arm blades and reset to Neutral disembark shut down, no bridge lift dock is available right now."

"Yes commander" The computer canceled modes 1-4 then kneeled on the ground, bringing the left knee down while bending the right knee, then it released the outer hatch, a small foot and cable crane lowered enough for her to disembark the rest of the distance to the ground. It replaced the blades, switching them off and storing back in to place.

"Hal, run search on pilot profile 'RED 5'"

"Searching….found….presenting data" The AI had two lines that appeared in space before her view, both tracing perimeters and area lay outs and sentence locations and lengths.

"Essentials please, sex, age, name, and picture, include work schedule" she prompted. The two lines began scribbling again and deleted, retyped and reformatted the screen for viewing. The lines finished and the holopic gave a small tone. She read,

"'Mark Kardon, Male, RED 5 call sign, 25 years of age.' Well then, brown eyes, black hair, and '_best in class?'_ I'll show you best in class!" She punched the Holopic, it dissolving and scattering away, the AI taking the sign that she was done with it. She took a foot hold of the cable and gripped it with her right hand and clicked the helmet on her belt clip on the right side of her hip. She descended and gave a mental command for the MU to bring up modes 1-3 and park it self in the hanger. Her MU, decorated specifically to what she wanted, with single green stripes near the wrists and ankles, walked off, small robotic crews trailing after it with pieces of equipment that where ejected during the battle along with the EMPed missiles that where scattered further down field. She thought to herself, switching the LWC off by mental command _I am not cutting my hair for a while, not until I get my private station back and have my hands wringing his neck for the trouble he caused me for it!_ Jade Alana walked off, wishing the Kid fixer would be somewhat more merciful than she was with him if she ever encountered him.


	2. CH I The Smoking Wire

**Part I**

"It is the arrogant, hot shot, fly boys whom are the ones that save us, you know"

Cale Macrynthl

**Chapter 1.** The Smoking Wire

2315, May 8. U.E.A.

Space Sector Alpha, Planet Rallodawn

Continent Rence, Province Percival

Sphere of Influence: U.E.A. Enforcers, U.E.A Military Owned Planet

Subdivisions; U.E.A Enforcers training facilities

Local Late Morning

The room was spacious, of course any room that was under ground was spacious, wide enough to have a platoon of troops inside lined abreast, yet the room had combat simulators strewn about at even intervals, with each simulator having a cable run to the ground and under the carpet and connected to the main systems computer outlet that fed information to the cables leading up to it. Their where only a few people scattered about, and most where on the combat simulator training and running flight programs. The simulator room was one of the many rooms part of the training base of the planet Rallodawn, a military owned planet that trained young men joining the police forces and military ranks of The U.E.A..

The lone figure that was by one of the simulators was welding a computer cable back together, next to him, a younger teenager was standing a little worried over the possible permanent damage he had the computer suffer through, and beside, a small robot observing over the shoulder of the older teenager welding the cable.

Cale Macrynthl liked his job. The pay was enough for him and he also did not have to pay rent because he lived at the training base. He is an all purpose mechanic quite valuable in the times where unnoticed droids do all the standard maintenance. He was tall, a little under six feet, and young, with unruly sandy blond hair, able to hold his own ground, his eyes where a cold steel gray, and had slight feigns of black in them. He wore a gray jump suit with many pockets and some well used all purpose boots. He is sixteen. He is also very skilled at making things go faster and run better, like making an old hunk of junk of a ship and makes it go faster that with the engine it was given, and he was also very good at creating small computers and robots, like his mechanical assistant that he built from scratch.

The small droid had four wheels for movement and had a hover thruster configuration for flying. It could also turn in to a humanoid form to assist him with his work. It had the appearance of a remote toy racing vehicle for concealment in the luggage when he traveled but also could change into a robot to assist him, thus his function. He was going to give it a numbered name but he hated standards and just decided to name him Tee. Tee had chrome highlight trim on his access panels and a gun metal gray on his main body shell. Tee helped Cale in repairs along with keeping track of the repair bills for him.

Cale was concentrating on the burnt wire leading to the memory drive of the combat training simulator. A thin plume of smoke rose from the work area as he was welding the two pieces of metal cable back together. He did not know how they came apart but he guessed that the wire melted due to the amount of heat before it turned to slag, possibly, they way he figured, someone or the operator probably pushed the machine too hard, not uncommon since the machine itself was able to make a continuous change of battle field conditions. His goggles showed him that the wire was near the necessary temperature to fuse. He was holding the equipment in his hands, protected by some old leather and nylon gloves. They weren't tattered, just old, there where his fathers work gloves, his former father who was dead, and the greatest freighter pilot in the galaxy, the talent for flying anything that he could get his hands on. His mother was dead too, died in the same place with his father, on his ship. His mother an intelligent trader from Duranos; she married him, a space station coloner and pilot (in which that case his father had two pairs of gloves, one for work and one for flight, one pair with fingers and one pair fingerless, respectively) and a self taught mechanic. When his parents died his older brother could not take care of him and since his father primarily shipped for the military, they UEA Enforcers took him in as a ward of the state making sure that he would be raised properly and receive any and all sort of necessary and beneficial training and teaching as he grew and matured while in their care. A minute later the goggle display indicated that the wire had fused and advised that he cool it rapidly to have it set properly. He turned to Tee behind him and said

"Cool this wire and install a new sleeve on it will you Tee? I need to talk to the person who ruined a fresh simulator system's memory connection."

"Sure thing boss, I'll have her looking in mint condition" Tee responded in an Old New Yorker brook land accent, and walked over to the open panel that lead to the wire, and began the work of redressing it with new insulation.

The culprit of the burnt wire looked pained, waiting to hear the impossibly expensive repair bill that awaited him. Cale laid it on him

"Since you melted a wire connection to the system's memory, I had to replace a wire to it and reconstruct the memory using the back-up system from the main computer files of the compound's computer memory core. That will cost you a little because I have to re-dress the wire's melted sleeve and reconnect the wire to the memory route. Hey, Tee! What's the expense for this one?"

"I ran the expense to your goggle screen, the amount should come up any second!" Tee responded. The total amount appeared on the screen of the goggles lens. "According to parts and labor, the pay deduction from your earnings is, 110 Credits and nothing more."

"What? That's too much money!" cried the trainee.

"Well, how much do you think a system backup cost huh? I'll tell you. A total of 10 Credits for the memory recovery because I had to dig up the hard copy of the simulator records data disk and use it to copy all of the simulator records to that simulator's memory, back on the hard drive and 20 Credits by the hour for labor which was 5 hours, that comes up to 100 Credits plus the ten Credits for the data disk hard copy and which totals up to 110 Credits."

"Oh, sorry I didn't know how much simulator memories recover cost" replied the trainee.

"Well it would cost you 5 extra Credits for the welding, but since there was no extra wire involved there is no charge for it. The charge will be deducted from your next pay check. "Hey Tee!" He called to the busy robot behind him, " finish up, we need to go and check something in the garage I think some one busted a combat training unit, I think an engine burst." "Sure thing Cale, I'm already done with the insulator to the wire." The robot replied eagerly.

They left the simulator room leaving the recruit with exasperated look on his face wondering how he could be more careful with not overheating the simulator systems.


	3. CH II The Plane

**Chapter 2.** The Plane

2315, May 8. U.E.A.

Space Sector Alpha, Planet Rallodawn

Continent Rence, Province Percival

Sphere of Influence: U.E.A. Enforcers, UEA Military Owned Planet

Subdivisions; UEA Enforcers training facilities

Local Afternoon

Cale reached the hanger, it was tall and wide, purposely built to accommodate the large transports it housed at times. He was surprised to see one of the latest aero space combat machines the XJP-53 Drooper, product of Triad Industries a joint company by Boeing, Skunk Works, and Lockheed Martin, idling, letting out a thin trail of black smoke behind it rising in the air. He knew what kind of capabilities the machine had, VTOL anti grav, Hyper Warp Fold Jump drive, subspace and atmospheric drives making it the most versatile aircraft in existence and the fastest aero space craft to date but never did he know that a recruit could beat it up so bad to do damage to an engine. The Drooper was a model that had a double engine emplacement in the rear of the craft and had wings thrust in all the way in to the rear, they folded strait up for storage and they laid level in flight and cruising and they swept back in atmospheric attack pattern or thrust sprints, folded down in space attack pattern and swept back and down and a 45 degree angle for hyper harp travel. It had a central dorsal up right top side fin for directional maneuvering. It was capable of atmospheric, real space and hyper warp flight. It had two wingtip laser cannons and two oversized laser cannons running inside of the hull. It also had a small compliment of ballistic and energy torpedoes and some extra equipment such as EVCM and decoy pods. He walked up to the Drooper and surveyed the damage; it's wings where stored up. The engine was definitely out of commission but still salvage able to be running again providing that the replacement components where available. Cale brought up the schematics to his goggle display and started isolating the problem on the engine, mean while Tee started climbing into the cockpit and began talking to the computer flight log and looking at the records of the vehicles last flight.

The vehicle was a top of the line trainer and pilot combat machine; it could only have certain weapons on and could destroy just as much as it's near counter part of the MU. Cale got to work on the fighter. The plain's engine was not damaged enough to be unserviceable -though he did not know how it could be sliced to cleanly on the thrust vector rings- just enough to make the plane land to be grounded onto the runway and to be towed in to the hangar for repairs.

Cale hated when a new pilot busted a perfectly new piece of equipment, especially since they model had not been rebuilt and serviced for factory defects that always come when a new model was shipped to the training base. It took two hours to repair the engine and all Cale needed to do was test the machine and tweak the engine for its original performance parameters. He though of repainting the plain's scorch marks of the burn out but thought better if it letting the trainees figure out if the plane was really as beat up as it looked. He got to work on the rest of the systems of the plane while Tee switched with him and started checking the primary systems.


	4. CH III The Computer's Tale

**Chapter 3.** The Computer's Tale

2315, May 8. U.E.A.

Space Sector Alpha, Planet Rallodawn

Continent Rence, Province Percival

Sphere of Influence: U.E.A. Enforcers, UEA Military Owned Planet

Subdivisions; UEA Enforcers training facilities

Local Late Afternoon

"What in the world happened to you! Your engine looks like sliced butter strips"

"Flown off of course, was taken out by MWU's energy blades to thrust vectoring rings" The message finished scrolling down the screen. Tee looked surprised that the ship did not show any reaction considering that the ship was top of the line in new line of combat training fighters.

"Hey what is the punishment for something as bad as this?"

"the most appropriate punishment is suspension for a week, retraining in following direct orders, cleaning the sleeping quarters, servicing all of the fighters along with Cale and mess hall duty for a two week period" The type finished.

"Wow, this one knows its regulations" Tee thought "maybe I can tell it to just give me the possible repair information, I ought to consult Cale, hey Cale do you know what this poor soul is trying to point at?"

"Not really it looks like we will have to check with Commander Jack"

"Jackson!" the computer corrected in a loud voice

"Jackson, right, well, we are going to have to check with the Commander on who was assigned to this fine piece of equipment. Hey, Tee, input this in to the computer tell it that Commander Jackson's alternative name is Jack."

"Just did Cale, oh, wait, it's saying something, I'll put it on speaker"

"Standard protocol addressing will still remain when personally addressing Commander Jackson. Pilot interfacing will use the commander's alternative names or nicknames of commander jack, commander jackass, commander, commander j, flight leader, or home leader." The computer stated,

"Turn that damn thing's volume down! It's going to get us in trouble!" he shouted, waving his hand in the air at him

"Wow, it seems that this one has had many different names for the Commander, I wonder if the where in-putted into its memory by the same pilot." The computer stated immediately, assuming his comment was a question

"All data entries where in-putted by the same person and has no permission to use them orally outside the cockpit and on communication frequencies"

"Well it looks like we are going to have to report to the Commander about this one, but before we do, we need to do some extra work on this one before we check it out for flight clearance." he said

"Hey, Cale what are we doing then?" Asked Tee

"We are going to have some fun with the pilot of this plane and teach him respect and appreciation of the Commander's work and mine"

"What do you mean?"

"I am going to place a remote programming box on the plane and I am going to have some fun with our renegade pilot"

"Are you going to ask the Commander?"

"Of course, you know me I don't do anything with out true official approval. Ask the computer if it agrees to this"

The computer responded to the question in its quick fashion"

"I agree with you only on the term that the commander approves of this"

"Well, sure! I'll make an appointment for tonight. It was nice talking to you, and I hope that you can figure out some tricks of your own for our pilot then"

"Agreed"

"Well then I'll talk to the Commander tonight and discuss this with him and ask for permission to use the remote box on you."

"I don't mind, I just hope the Commander doesn't mind the alterations"

"Don't worry, every thing will be fine, trust me I know the Commander, I don't think he won't be able not to let us do this little experiment with our pilot" Cale walked away with Tee in his vehicle hover mode and they headed back down the long corridor to his room to freshen up before his appointment with Commander. Cale reached his room and pouched in his security code. The door parted silently thanks to the frictionless guiders he installed. He walked in to his quarters and looked at his stereo. He liked the old thing one of the latest during its prime and of course the only kind that could still pump a room full of noise. An old BOSE, still running on a Tri-Prong plug when all of the other units available where now running on solar and rechargeable power pack. He grabbed the Bank Card size remote and selected his favorite CD and let it play itself out. He finished with his music and he headed off to the Commanders office. Tee stayed in the room to catch his real-time program feed from The U.E.A.'s Interplanetary Public Broadcasting System Information and Entertainment Network or The U.E.A.'s IPBSIEN. The IPB System was the company that provided the power and technology for the broadcasts, but the IEN had all of the smaller independent companies under the one name. They where all services provided by IPBS but IPBS had no influence over them, IEN was the name the smaller stations ran under. The smaller stations run under the IEN in which in turn The IEN siphons all of its programming to the IPB System for it to broadcast, each planet having a receiving station, transmission station, and its own Public Broadcasting Station for its own affairs on a planetary bases also being another channel on the IPB System making the IPBSIEN a large provider of the Publics Knowledge of current affairs and the latest entertainment to date .


	5. CH IV The Meeting with Commander Jackson

**Chapter 4.** The Meeting with Commander Jackson Gray

2315, May 8. U.E.A.

Space Sector Alpha, Planet Rallodawn

Continent Rence, Province Percival

Sphere of Influence: U.E.A. Enforcers, U.E.A Military Owned Planet

Subdivisions; U.E.A Enforcers training facilities

Local evening

Cale walked to the hall to the Commander's office. The hallway was large and spacious somewhat rare to find in the base compound's under ground offices. It echoed with each of his footsteps even though he wore soft soled shoes, giving him the impression that the hall was built to resonate the sound of approaching feet, possibly that anyone who was going to meet with the commander would announce his presence involuntary. He enjoyed the space, quite different from the confining upper levels of the facility where there was barely enough room to pass in line abreast of three.

He reached the office door and looked in the retina scanner. The scanner confirmed his identity and then he pressed his hand on the hand reader and it scanned his hand, then he recited his name and also punched in his numeric code then identified what sandwich he liked. The door opened to the commander's office, a small room which had an old seat from a personal vehicle. He figured it must have been of a luxury car looking at the plush seat with the leather skin cover. He walked up to the commander's desk, saluted a standard salute -palm out like the British did- and at the same time stuck his tongue out to the right of his mouth and went crossed eyed. After a few seconds the Commander turned around and laughed at him. The man was around 40 and had a lightly wrinkled face do to the fact that nothing seemed to surprise him. The man had a Standard Issue Jump suit on, blue and very lose fitting, not tailored to his size due that the suits where all "on size fits all" The Commander was different than most Commanders. He didn't like formalities but Cale called liked him sir out respect and not by standards.

"You know that a civilian like you can get in trouble for that, right?" He spoke in a flat American English accent. Cale kept his salute

"I appreciate it anyway, some of the recruits are so stiff I always need a good joke or laugh every now and then" The Commander returned the salute without the detail later flicking his palm down to an American Salute and bringing his hand down at and angle towards him. Cale sat down in the seat in front of his desk.

"Thanks Jack, sir, I knew you would need it, besides, I needed to do that to put in a good mood anyway"

"Oh no," Jack groaned "what did they break this time? I already gave that one recruit a reprimand for destroying a good engine on a new fighter"

"Well, Commander, the reason I am here concerns that trainee. See, I was wondering if maybe I could play a practical joke on him just to get him to appreciate me and the equipment more and give you proper respect" Jack pondered for a heart beat and asked.

"He won't be hurt right?"

"Of course not, he's just going to get the scare of his life, and besides, the computer on the fighter follows by standards and had a big list of things to punish him with, it even suggested that he work with me! I don't mind, but I already have my assistant"

"That robot of robot of yours right? Tee, is it?"

"Yes. Well, I wanted to control the same aircraft, - oh and by the way the aircraft that was shot, it's fixed and it works better than before, -by a remote and put the pilot through a scare, just enough to let him know who is boss. I'm thinking some acrobatic maneuvers, some high performance stunts, and emergency situation simulators."

"He won't be hurt, correct? If he gets hurt, I won't ever be forgiven by his parents"

"Don't worry sir, he won't be, the computer will monitor his vitals and make sure he doesn't black out from the inertia and gees I'll pull while putting the craft through its paces. And in case the maneuvers are too much, the computer overrides the remote, levels and slows down the aircraft."

"Good, I just wanted to make sure of that. Here are the pilot's records and some of his most extreme flight limits to inertia and gravity gains."

"Thanks Jack, sir, you won't regret this. One question: Why did you put in for the security code what kind of sandwich I liked?" The Commander held a strait expression when he responded,

"Just for fun."

Cale smiled,

"Well then Jack, sir, I'm going to hit the sack at my quarters, Goodnight." Cale performed his customary salute and the commander returned it with a real salute. Cale walked through the door of the commander's office and it closed shut behind him. He heard the commander laugh behind the door on his way to his room.

Okay this chapter is not exactly a work of art comapred tot he last two but I think its good as a stand alone chapter type. Ass you see, Cmmdrs's Chair is from a cart seat, you can assume itsa Mercedes or some othert of posh car, he really dosent like the form fitting ones he preffer the ones that pamper, so I guess he like his comforts. Notice too that i specifically put the accent at American English, and a flat one to be exact. That I put in there to suggest that he is partialy of californian decent so I guess I am modeling him on the way I speak becasue I have been told many times before that I have such an accent, a flat one, when I speak in English. And for those of you who are deducting that i am not a native speaker of English, you guessed right, Native speaker of Spanish originally so I guess I defy the typical minority defining barrier. Neat huh? Well enjoy it and I think I could have added more detail of the Cmmdr's physical features, In a way I envision him to be similar that of Wedge Antilles that of Star Wars. Hope you Enjoy and I expect a reveiw too!


	6. CH V When Two Points Meet

**Chapter 5.** When Two Points Meet

2315, May 8. U.E.A.

Space Sector Alpha, Planet Rallodawn

Continent Rence, Province Percival

Sphere of Influence: U.E.A. Enforcers, U.E.A Military Owned Planet

Subdivisions; U.E.A Enforcers training facilities

Local Late Night

He reached his room and Tee was there waiting for him.

"So what did the Commander say?" the robot asked after pausing his program that he was watching

"He said as long as the pilot doesn't black out, he will allow the operation to proceed"

"All right I'm going to power down and charge after I'm done with this show, see you in the morning"

Tee un-paused the video feed and continued watching it. Cale changed to his sleeping clothes and went down to lie on his bed. He decided to call Salen, his surfer girl friend back on the U.E.A. capitol of Earth on the tropical island of Hawaii. He remembered how they met on the beach and how one thing led to another and they eventually had the time of their lives. He recalled the day he met her like it was just yesterday... He was walking on a board walk in some gray cargo pants and a color full shirt he bought in one of the many tourist trap shops, near one of Hawaii's many beaches, a little tropical island in the pacific ocean of The U.E.A.. Tee was in vehicle mode and was glad that the sand was swept away daily for aesthetic purposes and for his benefit that his inner workings wouldn't encrust with sand. Cale used his goggles for sunglasses by only placing a small set of shields in front of them so he wouldn't have to strain his eyes to adjust in the bright tropical sunlight of the little island. He was getting some air, tacking in the sweet tasting island air some sun and looking at some of the various sun bathing girls, looking over them using the zoom on his goggles to take in their oiled bodies. Then as if lightning had struck, he saw her. She was lying on the beach drying off from a surfing session and tanning. She had the figure you could only find on those outdoors girls. She was tall and very cute. He figured out that she was a surfer girl because of the custom made long board planted upright in the sand behind her. She had a rich brown tan and no burns from any previous tans and he saw that she had no tan line only un broken tanned skin. She was wearing a rash guard, with red short sleeves and white base, which matched the red and white flowered surf trunks she was wearing. She was lying on her stomach and had her rash guard rolled up to her neck and was tanning. Her hair was wet and had sand in it. It was parted to her right so it wouldn't get in the way of her tanning. Her hair was what caught him: It was a pure white color with silver highlights and was elbow length and strait. Cale completely stopped and used his goggles to take in the contour of her curvy, slim body by using the zoom function. She sat up and rolled down her rash guard and he noticed that she had nothing else underneath when he saw her bear back. He swallowed hard in hope that she would turn around to look at him. She wiped her hair back in a motion that seemed was in slow motion. She picked up a bottle of sun oil and started to rub in a copious amount on her, careful not to spill any on her towel. Cale noted even though she was still shiny from the previously rubbed oil she applied another coat on. After she was done she gathered her hair and started to brush the sand out with a brush from her duffel bag nearby. Cale looked on, taking in the exotic soft beauty of the girl as she brushed her long hair and watching the smooth glistening skin of the oil on her body shimmer in the mid after noon sun.

Tee noticed that Cale had stopped. He knew Cale well, if Cale stopped to look at something it was either a ship, or a girl and Cale did not stop for girls often. He taped in to Cale's goggle P.O.V. and saw what made Cale freeze suddenly. It was a girl. He knew that even who knows why Cale stopped for her, he figured that maybe he just wanted to look at her wet tanning figure and her white hair. Even though there where other exotic girls on the beach with a wild selection of colored hair he figured that Cale liked the one he was looking at in particular because she was tanning. When he noticed that the zoom function was being used he then knew that Cale wasn't really looking at the girl's shape or her oiled tanned skin, he liked the girl. Tee decided to help speed the action up a bit. He converted to hover mode and flew over to the nearest exit of the wooden board walk and flew low over the sand to the girl. When he was close enough he converted to his humanoid mode and walked even closer to the girl. The girl stopped combing her hair and noticed that Tee was next to her. She asked

"Are you looking for someone?" She asked in a soft curious voice.

"Yes" Tee answered in a disguised old British accent rather from his New Yorker Brookline accent "In fact I am looking for you. My owner, creator so to say, he built me you know, he seems to have taken an interest in you and judging by his goggle P.O.V. visual I say he was ogling your shapely figure and your white hair"

"Really? I thought he was looking over to the beach on the other island."

"I don't think so and by judging how you where teasing him I say you knew that he was looking at you and you where just tantalizing him to see if he really was looking at you because he liked you not for your looks"

"You caught me," she giggled "I was teasing him and I did know that he was looking at me. On a note, I did not know who was looking, but I knew it was a guy. How did you know I was teasing him?"

"I study human psychology and human body language on the holonet" Tee stated smartly. Tee seemed to swell with pride at the fact that he was smarter than most robots.

"Oh, I thought that robots did only menial tasks or only read when they where told to"

He replied "Well, that is what most of us do, but some of us are given an independent learning mind and that allows us to have the ability to learn on our own. It also lets us develop our own persona" Tee stated proudly

"Then you are a learning robot. I don't meet many learning robots, most of them are the ones that clean my house and manage my bills" she said

"Ah, yes, the typical thinking that robots are slaves and they are the perfect workers to take the boring chores and tasks since they have no "souls". To tell you the truth, we are not the third class citizens most people think we are. I am fortunate enough that my creator treats me as an equal. Yes, I am a learning robot if that was your question. In other matters, what is your name?

"My name is Salen"

"I have one personal question, two in fact. First, how old are you?"

Salen smiled "I'm not telling if you can just figure that out for yourself" she giggled

"All right, second question, and I mean no offense in this next one, believe me, and is that your natural hair color?"

"Yes, some of my ancestors where from Antarctica and they developed a gene for white hair." She flipped her hair "Are you going to show me your creator?"

"Don't worry Salen, soon, soon enough. Thanks for the information" And with that Tee jumped and converted to hover mode in midair and flew off. He locked to Cale's homing beacon and when he was sure that Salen was far enough that she would not see him, he turned back towards Cale's signal and converted to his vehicle mode when he landed.

"Her name is Salen, she is going on sixteen in five months and that is her natural hair color, due to some ancestors of Antarctica. Boy, does she know how to make a robot feel appreciated" He had his original New Yorker Brookliner accent.

"How did you get her name and all that?" Cale asked surprised.

"I asked her strait out with no hesitation. I think I know why you like her."

"How do you know I like her?" Cale questioned "It's obvious by the way you looked at her and the way you stopped so abruptly. I also have your goggle P.O.V. and that sure lends a lot of evidence to my theory"

Cale threw his head back in realization, remembering how he used the zoom function on his goggles to observe her

"All right then you caught me in the act. Well then I'm going to go meet her and ask her out." Tee looked up at him in surprise at the direction the situation was going

"So soon? Well, I mean, I thought you only stopped for her looks?" He implied

"Nope. I heard her and saw her and she is definitely the one I have been looking for, my soul mate. She has the body and I already like her charm, she's my age, and her hair color drives me crazy. You're not the only one with access to P.O.V.s"

"Oh yeah I forgot about that. How are you so sure? You just saw her and you have not even met her eye to eye directly."

"Believe me, when you meet the right person you just know!" And with that Cale hoped over the boardwalk wall and walked to the girl. Salen was waiting for Cale but she did not know how he would look like, she only hoped that he was a guy worth kissing and good enough to have a long, loving, lasting relation ship with. Well, when Cale walked over she saw the most wondrous creature walking toward her. She was stunned that Cale was just a regular guy but she knew that it was something else that was between them. She just knew it was electricity between them like a power plant generator running at full capacity. Cale finally saw her without his goggles and she was even more beautiful than with out the zoom function. He saw her eyes, rainbow irises and her hair flowing in the wind with silver highlights in her long white hair and her perfectly sculpted, slender contoured figure.

"Hi, I'm Cale."

"Salen," she smiled "your robot has told me about the way you looked at me" She implied.

"His name is Tee and he is right, it's an experience for me just watching you. I have never set them on anything more soothing than the blue arcs of my solder before you came along" Tee was shaking his head at the absolute lame line that Cale pulled groaning to himself in the sense that he knew that his own creator was socially inept at times, and this was the moment that spilled of reeking truth..

"I haven't laid my eyes on anything more soothing than the swaying palm trees of this little island" Tee was listening from the board walk and was surprised at the way the girl took the suggestion probably she thought it was cute in sort of either tolerant way or actually thought it was just cute coming form him

"Want to go out?" Cale asked.

"I was waiting for you to ask me that," she smiled "8 o'clock at my place, Tee already has my address, and I'll treat you to a night you won't forget" She smiled again.

"And like wise I" he said and with that she got up and started to put her stuff away. She wrapped her towel around her waist and put her brush and oil inside her duffel bag. She picked up her long board and walked away, her bottom shacked from side to side in the towel while she walked barefoot across the dunes of the beach to the wooden plank board walk.

He noticed his slight dribble and quickly wiped it off. Salen knew that she was teasing him and smiled as she walked away. She winked at him, and he not knowing what to do, he waived back at her. She giggled and he ran his hand through his hair not sure how to respond so he gave her a smirk which in his opinion she took well. They both said good-bye and went there own directions both getting ready as possible for the night ahead of them...and that was how it all started for him and her and how they had the time of their lives together.


End file.
